Mix the first 4 ingredients together and set aside, covered. This will allow the dried fruit to rehydrate somewhat before baking, so they don't turn into little fruit-flavored rocks.
Cream together the rest of the applesauce and vegan sugars (at least, as well as these items can be creamed). Add flour, salt, cinnamon and soda to vegan sugar mixture. Mix well. Blend in raisin-cranberry mixture, oatmeal, and wheat germ (you can add 3/4 C chopped nuts, if you like them). Dough should be fairly stiff--if its too wet, add a bit more flour and possibly a pinch of baking powder, depending on your altitude. Drop by heaping teaspoon onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for approx. 12-15 m (check them often--mine had to bake for almost 30 because I made them too big and too wet the first time), or until they appear fluffy. You might want to make a test batch, then take one out and tear it open to see if it is too doughy inside before you pronounce them done. If they don't seem to be rising, add a pinch more baking powder.
This is an adapted Oatmeal Raisin cookie recipe that I made up this Christmas. I am a vegetarian, but my family is not, so I wanted at least one cookie that I could eat. They came out incredibly chewy and filling, and my Mom said they would make you feel as if you had just eaten a steak--hence the name. Decrease the vegan sugars if you think they might be too sweet, or if you can't find unsweetened applesauce. I also thought about substituting peanut butter for some of the applesauce to make them less fluffy (as noted above), but I haven't tried it yet. My family wasn't all that keen on these, but my vegan friend loved them.

this recipe is amazing and delicious, and im so grateful of the fact that these are virtually fat-free, with the exception of the oats, really. its all good fat. i halved this recipe because i only use a small oven thing. used only brown sugar, omitted the wheat germ because i misplaced it, and used a banana for both the applesauces and about two tabpespoons of cinnamon applesauce. i also used about 1 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for half of this recipe, and that seemed to work well.

altogether, i made 40 cookies: exactly 20 on each baking sheet. i would love to make these again in the near future!

Ah! Thanks for the info! I actually was going to use some ground flaxseed at my brother's request, but I didn't think it would matter if I used the oil, and I really wanted to finish up that bottle of flaxseed oil anyways. Now I know better. ;)

I actually just wanted to let Krissy know that it would be better to add ground flaxseed into the batter than to add flax oil......heating flax oil destroys its omega-3 fatty acids, so it should only be added to foods AFTER they've already been cooked.That said, you could also add walnuts to the cookies if you want a boost of omega-3's. I think that walnuts would probably marry very well with the oatmeal, raisins and cranberries! :)